Using the beets and greens that have grown over winter in my Florida backyard.
It is January 25th and today I pulled up all the beets. They were growing in a box which I needed for planting and growing green beans.
The beets were small and most were not really beets, but long red roots. However I did get a few to cut up and cook. I’m not sure, but I think maybe beets are mainly grown for the greens where I live. I didn’t have luck with growing actual beets.
Thanks to this site, I knew how to deal with the greens and incorporated them into my beets and rice meal.
How I Made This Meal
Pull beets from backyard and rinse dirt
Separate greens from beets and trim and cut beets for cooking. Simmer in water for 20 minutes, or until soft – my beets were small.
Remove stems from greens and chop
Slice onions (also from backyard), along with garlic
Saute onion, garlic and stems in oil for a minute or two and then add a little water. Cover and simmer to soften.
Chop leaves a bit and add to sautéed mix with a bit more water if needed
Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes until it all looks cooked.
Squeeze in a little lime juice.
Cook Basmati rice in the beet water – 1/2 cup
If any water is leftover in the pan, dump it into the beets pan. Reserve all that water once the beets are cooked and use it to cook rice.
onion, beet green stems and garlicSaute
This is a waste free meal that reserves all the goodness of fresh picked vegetables. The roots and yellowed leaves of the beets went into my compost pile.
Add salt and pepper and butter… yummy!
Garden beets and greens cooked and served with Basmati rice
Have you ever eaten the leafy parts of broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts? When the normal food did not grow from my beautiful plants, I began to use the leaves for food.
Over the winter months here in Florida, I have grown some nice looking cruciferous vegetables. Or should I say, the plants are nice looking. So far, there are no actual vegetable parts to eat.
The Brussel sprouts (Catskill – Long Island Improved), broccoli Calabrese, and cauliflower (Snowball) PLANTS have all grown nicely from seeds put into the ground this Fall.
Brussel Sprouts in December
Brussel sprouts plantTwo in grow box
Broccoli in December
Cauliflower and broccoliBroccoli plants
Cauliflower in December
Cauliflower plantCauliflower plantCauliflower plantCauliflower in fabric bag
Be Aware: Not all vegetable leaves are edible!
Be sure you know what you are eating as many vegetable leaves are not edible and some are dangerous to eat.
Even without the normal parts of the cruciferous plants, the leaves can be cooked and taste pretty good!
I don’t know if any of these plants will grow heads of cauliflower, stalks of broccoli or little green sprouts. I had high hopes, but maybe the weather has become too cold. I’ll continue to let them grow, while picking only a leaf or two from each plant to cook.
Cruciferous leavesReady to boilSlow cooking on a single burner.
When these leaves are boiled or simmered for an hour or more, they are soft and easy to eat alone, or in a meal. I save the water too, which is full of nutrients.
Add the leaves, either whole or chopped, to soup, stew or in stock. They are similar to cabbage leaves. Freeze the leftover cooking water for later use.
A single electric burner works well for simmering for long periods of time. It also frees up the stove.
Other Garden Leaves Okay to Eat
I’m also enjoying my borage leaves and using them to make tea. Borage grows very well during the coldest part of a Florida winter. Even without the pretty blue flowers, the big bristly leaves can be picked to make a mild tasting tea. This page, at Sow Right Seeds, suggests picking the leaves while they are small, but I take the largest leaves from the bottom of the plant and leave the small ones to continue to grow. I steep them in hot water for 15 minutes.
Flowering borage in my yard.Edible sweet potato leavesSweet potato vines can flower!
Just last summer I discovered that sweet potato leaves can be eaten! In fact, they are very nutritional. These I do pick small and add a few to a salad or pot of soup, or stew. They are good chopped and added to a stir fry as well. Leaves are heart-shaped and they can have pretty flowers. Meanwhile the actual potatoes are busy growing underground AND they will come back and continue to grow year after year (in warm climate) if some of the plant is left in the ground.
Here’s how to bring along vegetable packets for grilling on a camping trip.
Each time we get read to go camping in our trailer, I create vegetable foil packets to take along.
My son like to grill, so he takes care of bringing the meat. I’m not a big meat-eater, but I always have a small amount. My main dish consists of vegetables.
Creating the Packets
Close to the camping dates, I shop for fresh vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, carrots, potatoes, and onions. I don’t buy all of these, just what looks freshest and is affordable. (I skipped the asparagus as the price was ridiculous!)
The day before we leave the vegetables are rinsed, chopped and wrapped. Potatoes and carrots will take the longest to cook and need to be cut very small. I add butter and seasoning, like dried parsley and garlic powder. We add our own salt, if needed, after cooking.
Chopping vegetables
Use heavy duty foil, and place a mix of vegetables in the center of a large piece of foil. About a big handful size. Or, separate out the vegetables according to who likes what.
Top with butter, sprinkle with seasonings you like. Wrap the top first by placing the long ends together and folding over and over to the food. Fold each end in like wrapping a gift.
Tightly wrappedVegetable foil packets going into the camper.Camper fridge
I bought a head of cauliflower, four red potatoes, one onion, and about 5 carrots to make 8 packets to take with us.
We grill the foil food for about 30 minutes.
We ate four packets our first night when my son grilled chicken. We cooked the other four packets the second night, and ended up bringing two back home the next day. So, we had plenty.
I almost forgot to get a photo of the meal! It’s not ready for a food magazine, but you get the idea.
This is a simple way to continue eating healthy away from home. Camping food doesn’t have to be all bread and cheese and pancakes! I don’t eat like that at home, and I won’t while away.
Once you make your own tortillas, you will never eat store bought again. Here’s a rundown on how they are made.
One day I decided to make my own tortillas. I’m not a big bread eater, but I love these tortillas. Store bought anything is usually loaded with extra things I don’t want to eat so I choose to make my own food. Plus, with the garden growing, I like to make quesadillas and use my veggies.
The simple ingredients of flour, salt, baking powder, oil, and water are mixed and then kneaded for a couple of minutes. Find the recipe here that I used, and the list of ingredients. It is loaded with ads, which is typical for recipe pages. I wrote down the ingredients on paper which I refer to each time I make them so I don’t have to go back to that annoying page.
These are easy to make, but they are very time-consuming. Do the first part of mixing and then they get to sit for a while. Rolling and cooking takes the longest. But, they are good. You will never go back to store bought!
Mix the dough, knead, and divide into 16 pieces.
I have an awesome wooden cutting board which I use for this. And I have a little dough cutter / scraper (Amazon affiliate link) that comes in handy.
The dough has to be cut into 16 pieces
Dough is cut and ready to make into small round discs.
Once flattened, these flat patties will sit covered for about an hour.
Once you have 16 pieces of dough – just keep dividing each section until you have 16 – roll and flatten a bit with your palm. Cover them with a towel and wait a while – up to 2 hours, or as little as 15 minutes.
Roll flat and into a round shape (not easy for me)
Stack each flattened tortilla with parchment paper between. They will be cooked one at a time so you don’t want them to stick together.
Consider the Pan
The pan type was tough to figure out. The first time I used a small non-stick fry pan and I ruined it! The tortillas are baked for about a minute total in a dry pan – add nothing… no oil. This can make bits of the tortilla stick to the pan and burn on as you continue to cook all 16 tortillas. I couldn’t clean the black bits off the non-stick pan. It was ruined.
Finally I have decided that a plain stainless steel pan works best. When I have some black, burned parts I can clean it with stainless steel cleaner. So, use a pan that you are able to scrub afterwards.
I do use a low heat, but they have to cook… it’s a fine line between cooking and burning, so pay close attention.
Roll each piece of dough very thin
Put parchment paper between the flattened tortillas
Cook tortillas one at a time
They will bubble up when cooking
Using the Cooked Tortillas
Once all 16 tortillas are made, let them cool and store in the fridge. I usually freeze many of mine to use at a later time. They freeze well.
Cooked and stacked
A favorite way to use the tortillas is to make delicious quesadillas. This meal is very simple (once the tortillas are made) and offers many ingredient options.
Homemade tortillas to make quesadillas
Simply butter one side of a tortilla and place it – butter side down – on a pan, foil, or parchment paper. Add cooked meat, cheese, vegetables, or whatever you wish. Butter the top of the other tortilla and place butter side up. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until brown and crispy.
Many of my northern friends are getting ready to plant seeds indoors in time for June gardening. These simple little recipes helped me use up an overload of zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other lovely home-grown vegetables.
As I was looking through my little notebook about gardening, I came across a page of simple recipes I’d made in the past. Specifically, the food was meant to use vegetables I was growing in my New England garden.
In New Hampshire I tended to have lots of squash, zucchini and cucumbers. Late in the season I’d have wonderful tomatoes, if the blight didn’t get them.
A lot of these veggies I can’t seem to grow here in Florida, but I wanted to write out the recipes to save. You don’t really need a recipe, just the ideas to work from depending on what you are picking in the backyard. It all depends on where you live and what you are growing.
Stuffed Zucchini (Boats)
Slice zucchini lengthwise in half and scoop out the middle. Chop this and fry with onion and garlic – also ground beef / turkey – if you want. Mix in chopped tomatoes, or tomato sauce and parsley. Put mix into hollowed out zucchini, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 40-50 minutes. (350)
Photo credit: Pixabay
Tomato Salsa
Cherry tomatoes or big tomatoes, chopped. Also chop parsley, chives, onions, garlic. Cucumbers and / or zucchini can be added. (Hot peppers, bell peppers, also work).
I used to eat this along with some plain, whole milk yogurt as a type of dip with chips. I could not grow peppers in the north, as they like warmth, but here in the south, they grow very well. Tomatoes like the heat also and I can easily grow cherry tomatoes.
Photo credit: Pixabay
Cucumber Salad
I wrote this recipe down after going out to eat at the Bantam Grill in Peterborough, NH. I don’t have their recipe, but the basics used were chopped cucumber, with thinly sliced radishes and onion. Mix with some sort of dressing (oil & vinegar) and crumbled goat / feta cheese. It seems that many other good things would go with this, but I was always looking for a way to eat all those radishes I grew. Their version was served with salmon. If you are ever in the area, eat at the Bantam Grill… the food is wonderful and they use local ingredients whenever possible.
Here in Florida, I can’t seem to grow cucumbers.
Easy Pickles (Sweet)
If you end up with tons of cucumbers, try this easy pickle recipe that does not require canning.
7 cups of thinly sliced cucumber, 1 cup of onion and 1 cup of bell pepper – also thinly sliced. A mandolin slicer (Borner mandolin is what I have – this is an affiliate link to Amazon.) is the easiest way to get this done. Mix one cup of sugar and 1 cup of cider vinegar together and then mix in the vegetables. Add some celery seed and put into large mason jars. Store in the fridge (and maybe share with the neighbors). These pickles last for a few months, but eating them fresh is best.
This year I learned about growing greens that will do well here in Central Florida gardens. I have just planted something called Chijimisai. It is supposed to be a lot like spinach. In general, greens like lettuce and kale, must grow in cooler weather. In order to pick greens for salads, smoothies and for stir-frying…
Wish I’d known more about growing cucumbers in summer here in Florida BEFORE I decided to try to grow them during summer. Apparently the pickleworm moth moves northward from South Florida and shows up around June / July – here in Central Florida. The moths lay eggs during the night, and worms hatch that eat…
Kale grew in the garden over our very short Florida winter. Now the heat is already here, so I am using the leaves and hoping for seed pods.
Last fall I planted organic kale seeds. Kale is a vegetable that does well in cold weather.
Now that “winter” is here, I am picking kale leaves to make chips. My leaves are not very big, but hot weather is already here, so I need to make use of the kale.
Dinosaur Kale
I eat kale because it is healthy and not necessarily because I love it. The two ways I use kale are either blended up for a smoothie, or baked in the oven to make chips.
On this day, I made chips.
Kale for chips
Kale chips are very easy to make. Cut the leaves, wash, pat to dry a little, drizzle olive oil over the leaves. Use your hands to rub the oil all over the leaves and then place them on a sheet for baking.
Bake for a short time, checking often, and moving them / turning over as needed. Oven not too hot – I think around 325? Once they crisp up, they are done. Add salt and eat!
In the process of making kale chips
I’m waiting for my kale plants to give me some seeds to use for next year. I’m not sure how that happens, so I am watching for a flower to form. Apparently then there should be seed pods.
My dill from seeds also did quite well. I ended up with more dill than I have room for in the garden. The black swallowtail butterfly loved it to and deposited her eggs everywhere. I had loads of caterpillars, but they all ended up being food for the cardinals! Such is life.
Hydrangeas Blue 